President Lawrence Expands Connections to India in 2012 Trip

An agreement to engage in collaborative scientific research with a leading biological center, generous donations, warm connections with families of students and potential students and a range of new possibilities for social justice work and study abroad – all are among the results of the Brandeis mission that President Fred Lawrence led to India in February, 2012.

Brandeis faculty and administrative leaders met with academics, donors, and interested students and parents in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

“We were able to engage with India on a wide range of levels,” Lawrence said in an interview upon his return to Brandeis. “The results clearly exceeded my already high expectations.”

Lawrence, along with a small group of faculty, began his travels in Delhi, hosting a public forum titled “Justice in Diverse Societies,” with Former Attorney General of India, Soli Sorabjee.

Other specifics of the trip included:

• An agreement with administrators and faculty of the National Center for Biological Studies (NCBS), in Bangalore, on steps to form a partnership that could involve exchanges of graduate students, undergraduates and post-docs.

• Possible creation of a program resembling a Justice Brandeis semester during which undergraduates would work and study in the biological center’s wildlife conservation program.

“These results represent substantial payoffs in a relatively short time,” Lawrence said, noting that the mission also led to possibilities for judicial conferences and training with Jindal Global University outside Delhi, creation of a new alumni club in Bangalore and increased enrollment of highly qualified Indian students at Brandeis.

President Lawrence was joined in India by Dan Terris, Vice President for Global Affairs, Harleen Singh, the Helaine and Alvin Allen Assistant Professor of Literature and co-chair of the South Asian Studies Program, Preeta Banerjee, assistant professor of strategy in the International Business School, and Bulbul Chakraboty, Professor of Physics. Alumni living in India also participated in forums and gatherings.